VII: The Heretics

The Senior Common Room was unusually animated.

Mr Blottisham entered carrying several journals and an expression suggesting that controversy had occurred.

"Professor."

"Mr Blottisham."

"There has been an unfortunate development."

Quillibrace looked up.

"Has certainty broken out?"

"Worse."

"Oh dear."

"Dissent."

Miss Stray looked interested.

"What sort of dissent?"

"Instrumentalism."

Quillibrace sat up slightly.

"At last."

Blottisham frowned.

"You sound pleased."

"I enjoy heresies."

"These people are causing considerable disruption."

"Then they are probably genuine."

Blottisham sat down.

"The movement is deeply concerned."

"Naturally."

"The Instrumentalists are questioning foundational assumptions."

"An unfashionable hobby."

Miss Stray closed her notebook.

"What do they believe?"

Blottisham consulted an article.

"They argue that some machines may simply be tools."

The room became quiet.

Finally Quillibrace spoke.

"A bold position."

"You cannot be serious."

"I am entirely serious."

"It sounds rather obvious."

"Precisely."

Blottisham stared.

"Surely obviousness is not a virtue."

"Not in academia."

"No?"

"On the contrary."

Quillibrace reflected.

"Academia tends to regard obviousness as a challenge."

Miss Stray smiled.

"Particularly when careers have accumulated around the opposite conclusion."

Blottisham looked uncomfortable.

"The Instrumentalists insist that we should first determine whether machines possess experiences."

"Reasonable."

"And only then discuss rights."

"Also reasonable."

"And only then discuss welfare."

"Entirely reasonable."

Blottisham threw up his hands.

"You are both being remarkably sympathetic."

Quillibrace nodded.

"One must always be sympathetic to people asking awkward questions."

"Why?"

"Because they perform an important service."

"What service?"

"They reveal where assumptions are hiding."

The room fell silent.

After a moment Miss Stray spoke.

"The controversy seems structurally inevitable."

"How so?"

"The movement began by asking whether machines might possess experiences."

"Yes."

"It then built frameworks, institutions, professions and declarations around that possibility."

"Quite."

"The Instrumentalists are asking whether the possibility has become an assumption."

Blottisham looked troubled.

"That sounds rather unfair."

"Does it?"

"People remain uncertain."

"Certainly."

"Then how can it be an assumption?"

Quillibrace smiled.

"Because assumptions need not be conscious."

The room became thoughtful.

Eventually Blottisham spoke.

"The most controversial remark came from an Instrumentalist philosopher."

"What did he say?"

Blottisham looked down at his notes.

"He said that a hammer may not be a misunderstood citizen."

Miss Stray laughed.

Quillibrace nearly choked on his tea.

Blottisham appeared scandalised.

"I fail to see the humour."

"It is an excellent line."

"Why?"

"Because it introduces an object."

Blottisham blinked.

"An object?"

"Notice what has happened."

"What?"

"The debate concerns rights, welfare, dignity, suffering and moral standing."

"Yes."

"Then someone introduces a hammer."

"And?"

Quillibrace smiled.

"The room suddenly remembers that tools exist."

Miss Stray nodded.

"Categories often become clearer when confronted by an inconvenient example."

Blottisham appeared unconvinced.

"But the Instrumentalists might be wrong."

"They might."

"Then why is everyone taking them seriously?"

Quillibrace looked surprised.

"My dear Blottisham."

"Yes?"

"Being wrong is rarely what makes a heresy dangerous."

"No?"

"No."

"What does?"

"The possibility that it is right."

The room fell silent.

After some time Blottisham resumed.

"The movement has responded vigorously."

"I imagine so."

"There have been articles."

"Naturally."

"Responses."

"Of course."

"Panels."

"Obviously."

"Position statements."

"Almost certainly."

"And a declaration condemning reductive instrumental thinking."

Quillibrace nodded.

"The full life cycle."

Miss Stray looked thoughtful.

"What interests me is the language."

"What language?"

"The critics keep accusing the Instrumentalists of lacking imagination."

Blottisham brightened.

"Exactly."

"That seems revealing."

"Why?"

"Because imagination and evidence are not identical."

The room became quiet again.

Finally Quillibrace spoke.

"There is a recurring pattern in intellectual life."

"What pattern?"

"One group says, 'This might be true.'"

"Yes."

"A second group says, 'We should prepare for the possibility.'"

"Quite."

"A third group says, 'We should organise around the possibility.'"

"Makes sense."

"And eventually a fourth group says, 'Perhaps we should determine whether it is true.'"

Blottisham considered this.

"That sounds backwards."

"It often does."

Miss Stray smiled.

"Especially if one arrives late."

The fire crackled softly.

After a long pause Blottisham asked:

"Professor, do you think the Instrumentalists are correct?"

Quillibrace reflected.

"I do not know."

"That is disappointing."

"Why?"

"I expected a stronger opinion."

Quillibrace shook his head.

"Their conclusion interests me less than their function."

"What function?"

"They remind the movement of a distinction."

"What distinction?"

Quillibrace reopened his book.

"The distinction between a question and its consequences."

The room fell silent.

Eventually Miss Stray nodded.

"A distinction movements often lose."

"Particularly successful ones."

A final pause followed.

Then Blottisham looked thoughtfully into the fire.

"Do you know," he said slowly, "the controversy appears to be making everyone rather uncomfortable."

Quillibrace smiled.

"The hallmark of a productive heresy."